A balanced attack very hard to defend

The Patriots’ offense has been executing with seemingly 100 percent efficiency. Just as impressive, it’s come with a near 50-50 balance in the play calling.

Quarterback Tom Brady has passed 59 times, and the backs have run 69 times in the first two games, both of which ended by the identical and favorable score of 38-14. That’s the kind of balance that keeps defenses, well, off balance.

“You want to be able to have a balanced attack,” running back Kevin Faulk said. “In any offense, you want to be able to run the ball and pass the ball. At the same time, we just want to be consistent and keep it up.”

And woe be the team that shows it can’t consistently maintain that symmetry and steadiness.

“This league really forces you to be balanced, and if you’re not balanced by your players, then you have to adjust your scheme somehow to compensate for that,” coach Bill Belichick said. “There’s just too many good players in this league. They will wear you out. Every team in the league needs balance, or all you do is end up playing on your weaknesses, and it’s hard to get to your strengths.”

While balance is a recipe for success, it doesn’t guarantee it. Just look at the Buffalo Bills. They have 48 rushes, 46 passes and zero wins heading into Sunday’s AFC East contest against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

“It just comes down to execution,” Belichick said. “It comes down to situational football.”

A familiar football adage says you run to set up the pass. But a closer look at the way the Patriots have been conducting their business reveals an effective passing attack has paved the way for an efficient ground game.

“Hopefully, we can continue to be creative and mix things up,” said Brady, the NFL’s top-ranked passer. “As long as the different (receivers) are all capable of being able to make the plays when they’ve got one-on-one coverage, it’s going to be a tough offense to stop. If you start double-covering people, then it leaves other people open. It leaves the running game a little bit more room.”

The backs, who have posted rushing totals of 134 and 144 yards, have sealed the deal two weeks running.

Against the Jets in Week 1, Brady completed 17 of 22 passes through three quarters while helping build a 28-14 lead. The backs had 21 carries to that point, but would nearly match the total in the final frame.

The Patriots closed it out by running on 15 of their final 21 plays (not counting the knee backup Matt Gutierrez took to close things out). Most of the damage occurred on a 17-play, 75-yard drive that consumed more than eight minutes and resulted in a Heath Evans’ 1-yard scoring plunge.

Brady was 19 of 25 and the Patriots were ahead, 31-7, after three quarters against the Chargers on Sunday. The backs had 18 touches at that stage before getting 14 carries in the final 15 minutes, two of them knees by Gutierrez.

Once again, a big drive was instrumental in squashing any (faint) comeback hopes by the opposition. This time it was a 91-yard excursion that took 15 plays — nine of them rushes — and lasted more than 10 minutes before Sammy Morris slammed his way over from the 3.

“Sustaining drives means you’re usually not having negative plays,” tight end Kyle Brady said. “You’re having positive plays on first and second down and not putting yourself in hard-to-overcome third-down situations. Things are clicking when you have long drives.”

Just how well are things clicking? Better than a castanet in the hands of Antonio Banderas.

The Patriots lead the NFL with 53 first downs and are third in third-down conversion rate (52.9 percent), which — along with turnover margin — is considered one of the most meaningful statistics in the sport. What’s particularly impressive is they’ve only been put in third-down situations a league-low 17 times.

Chalk it up to everybody doing their job.

“If you don’t have any negative plays in there like penalties and tackles for loss or fumbled exchanges or losses in the running game and stuff like that, then you can move forward and stay on the field,” Belichick said. “If you have those kinds of plays and you don’t execute it properly or you have a missed assignment or you drop a ball or you have a false start or stuff like that, then you end up in long-yardage situations, and it’s just too hard to convert those in this league.”

The Patriots are converting and doing so with a nice blend of passing and running. That’s a 50-50 mix that’s added up to a 1.000 winning percentage.

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